The field of the present invention relates to optical submounts for optoelectronic, optical, or photonic components. In particular, submounts are disclosed herein that (i) include refractive and reflective optical surfaces that are faces of 4-faced or 3-faced depressions on the submount bottom surface or (ii) include alignment marks comprising a set of 4-faced depressions and intervening areas.
Optical submounts are employed in a variety of circumstances to indirectly attach to a substrate and to support an optoelectronic, optical, or photonic component. The submount typically is arranged to redirect light propagating substantially parallel to the surface of the substrate to the supported component (or vice versa). The optical submount can serve one or more additional purposes, including but not limited to: mechanical support, positioning or alignment, heat dissipation, or electrical connection. One example is disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,956 entitled “Optical apparatus using vertical light receiving element” issued Jul. 26, 2005 to Yang et al.